How to Get Lean And Live A Healthy Lifestyle

The Sixpack Diet Makeover

Most people don’t walk around with a six pack but most people want one. Why is that? Well, it’s one indicator of how well you take care of yourself. If you see someone with a six pack, you know for a fact that they prioritize their own health and themselves. They take themselves seriously and put their own fitness level first. Thousands of people are able to maintain this level of fitness despite having jobs, having kids and a family, having other obligations.

What differentiates these people? They’ve figured out the formula for fat loss and how to keep off unwanted pounds.

Does it mean they are constantly on a diet, you might wonder?

Fair question and the answer is no, they aren’t. Initially these six pack folks went on a diet, and even at some point it was pretty rigid. But maintaining a six pack takes flexible dieting whereby most of the time you eat a clean diet 90% of the time and 10-15% of the time you can indulge in the foods you might not normally eat. One of the things you’ll hear me say quite often is “your body will respond to what you do most of the time.” So if 80-90% of the time you are eating clean, healthy foods then your body will respond accordingly with giving you the progress you long for.

Carrying a high percentage of body fat is still dangerous to your health and leaves you susceptible to diabetes, heart disease and all of the health risks. And it also will deny you a six pack body.

This is the very reason your goal should be fat loss, not weight loss. And the reason you should follow an effective fat loss program; not a weight loss program.

Weight loss programs allow you any type of food up to a certain calories or points. Fat loss programs encourage you to eat the types of foods that will help you shed fat and gain lean muscle. Not huge bodybuilder type of muscle, but toned, lean, or even shredded abs type of muscle. This point is key…you must lose body fat and gain lean muscle.

The solution is learning to balance your meals with protein, carbohydrates, vegetables, and healthy fats.

Back to proteins for a minute. Let me tell you some of the best lean proteins to include in your diet.

Skinless, boneless chicken breast

Fish

Lean cuts of meat, like sirloin tip side, top round steak, bottom round roast and steak and cuts that are graded “choice” or “select” instead of “prime” which has more fat.

Bison

Lean cuts of pork

Eggs and egg whites

Tofu and Greek yogurt can have great sources also

And some protein powders are great to supplement with

By adding protein to each meal, you are effectively creating an environment in your body for fat loss, which is your new goal.

What else does a fat loss diet consist of?

The good news is carbohydrates. Carbs get a bad rep and there are plenty of diet plans that attempt to eliminate carbs. I don’t agree with elimination of carbs as it’s even something that was taught while I was getting certified in nutrition. Your body’s organs have a baseline need of carbs for fuel. If you dip below that it can cause health problems and even lightheadedness or spacey feelings. Your brain is one of the organs that has a baseline need to even function. So if you are like many people, including me who thought they could go super low carb for any length of time and you ended up feeling like a space cadet…then you likely weren’t getting the baseline carbs needed to function.

I could blame it on the blonde hair but I don’t know about you..

These drastic cuts in carbs aren’t needed to get ahead with fat loss. And carbs really get a bad rep because of the amount of carbs out there that actually do have potential to make you really fat. It’s the sugar-laden carbs that are found in white starchy things like white rice, breads, pastries, and those things that break down later in your body as sugar. You might not think you are eating a ball of sugar but you are, it’s what it translates in your body anyway.

These are the types of carbs that are needed for fat loss:

Sweet potatoes, and yams

Brown rice

Some fruits with low sugar

Oatmeal (not those sugar packet ones)

Quinoa

And some vegetables actually have a great carbohydrate source

Multigrain breads and tortillas

Just by switching the types of carbs you eat, you can totally make a huge difference in accelerating your metabolism and fat loss. The types of carbs you choose make all the difference. By changing up what you choose you can start to notice a difference almost immediately.

Another component of a fat loss diet is including healthy fats. I know, the term might not make perfect sense as you might be thinking, “you want me to eat fat to lose fat, really?” and the answer is “yes!” Healthy fats are very instrumental in fat loss.

Some great sources of healthy fats are:

Eggs (yolks in eggs give the source of fats)

Peanut and nut butters

Olive, sunflower, peanut, and sesame oil

Avocados

Nuts (almonds, peanuts, walnuts, pecans, cashews, and macadamia nuts)

Fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines)

Flaxseed

Seeds like: Sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin

Healthy fats are said to be the secret ingredient that prevents heart disease and can also lower cholesterol levels.

Last but not least are vegetables to complete our fat loss diet makeover. Literally vegetables can be the save all for making it through a fat loss diet without being hungry. Vegetables are filling, and they are great for your hair and skin helping you get a youthful glow. It can be hard to remember to include them in your meals but it becomes easy when you know which ones to choose for which meal and start to plan them into your meals ahead of time. Some vegetables break down as a serving of carbohydrates so it can accelerate your fat loss faster by choosing those vegetables instead of a carbohydrate serving. We will get into this more in another episode. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast now so you don’t miss out on when it publishes!

There are a couple of take home points I’d love for you to walk away with. Here goes:

The types of foods you eat determine whether or not the program you’re following will result in fat loss or just weight loss

Fat loss should be your primary goal if you want to reshape and tone your body

Abs are uncovered with enough fat loss to reveal them

Nutrition is 80% of your progress so focus your efforts there first

The most important point: YOU can and will change your body by implementing the right changes. You may believe “I’ve tried everything and it hasn’t worked.” Or “I have a broken metabolism, a slow thyroid, or I’m just supposed to be big.” And none of those things are true. I’m here to tell you as an experienced fat loss coach that you can and will change your metabolism by implementing the right things in your life.